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From: www.iht.com/articles/2006...summit.php
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Bolivia sees no need to pay for takeovers
By Carter Dougherty International Herald Tribune
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2006
VIENNA The leader of Bolivia on Thursday ruled out compensation for nationalized oil and gas resources as he began facing tough European questioning at the start of a high-profile summit meeting here on energy and trade.
President Evo Morales sent in the army on May 1 to occupy oil and gas fields owned by BG Group of Britain, Total of France, Repsol of Spain and Petrobras of Brazil. He said there was no need to pay, since the companies had already recovered their investments plus profits.
Europe is watching the case carefully. The European Union wants closer economic ties with Latin America under normal rules of law. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's commissioner for external relations, said Europe was looking for discussions with Bolivia and the affected companies.
"If there are already contracts, these have to be tackled and changed by dialogue," Ferrero-Waldner said.
The foreign minister of Austria, Ursula Plassnik, said: "The rule of law and trust are key issues not just for the Bolivian people, but also for investors."
But Morales was firm. "There is no reason to indemnify them whatsoever," he said at a news conference at the beginning of the meeting of dozens of European, Latin American and Caribbean leaders. "If we were to expropriate their technology or their assets, in that case there could be talk of indemnifying them, but that is not the case."
Morales added that there was "no reason for us to ask, no reason for us to consult, and there is no reason for us to discuss the policies of a sovereign nation."
Morales also confirmed expectations that his government planned to seize agricultural land and redistribute it to the peasantry, a prospect that has unnerved neighboring Brazil, whose Petrobras was already hit by the gas field nationalization and whose farmers hold land in Bolivia.
"We're not going to limit ourselves to oil resources," Morales said. "We're also going to finish with huge land owners, especially productive land, in our country."
Morales, an Aymara Indian, says that American-backed, free-market economic practices have failed to pull Bolivians out of poverty, and he criticized Colombia and Peru on Thursday for signing free-trade pacts with the United States.
"These countries that are now negotiating a free-trade agreement with the United States are abandoning the principles of the Andean community," the president said.
On the way to the meeting in Vienna, which was organized by Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, who holds the European Union's rotating presidency, the Latin American leaders made various side trips that highlighted their other interests in Europe.
In an apparent overture to an institution he has often criticized, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela passed through the Vatican to meet with Pope Benedict XVI and hear his concerns that Chávez might try to limit the church's influence.
President Michele Bachelet of Chile stopped in Bosnia and Herzegovina to visit with a small group of Chilean soldiers who are part of the peacekeeping mission there.
Schüssel, a conservative who is in a tight race for re-election this year, has used European Union meetings large and small to showcase his leadership in Europe, while also trying to show a populist touch.
On Thursday, he led a group of European officials that included the EU Commission president, José Manuel Barroso; Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz of Poland; and a raft of sports stars in a soccer match that benefited an Austrian charity.
The European Union is in free-trade talks with Mercosur, a grouping that includes Brazil and Argentina, and will announce the start of negotiations with Central America on Friday.
But it is more wary of the Andean nations because of Morales and Chávez's plans to leave the five-member Andean grouping of South American nations in response to existing deals with the United States.
Until the Andean countries find a common position, nothing will happen, said Ferrero-Waldner, the EU external relations commissioner.
Though the meeting includes heavyweights such as President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Vicente Fox of Mexico, Morales attracted intense attention on the summit meeting's first day as he sought to persuade Europe that the nationalizations were a reasonable and just response to centuries of exploitation - above all of indigenous people - by foreigners.
Morales spent more than an hour explaining his position. Though known for his stirring rhetoric at home, he relied on sober arguments, and occasional touches of humor that included jabs at his British interpreter, to make his case in Europe.
Still, he avoided explicitly confrontational tones. He made no mention of the United States by name, even though his criticism of American policies has been biting in the past - and he avoided blanket condemnations of foreign investors.
"What we are looking for are partners, not bosses that exploit our natural resources," Morales said.
He reserved his most pointed words for Prime Minister José Luis RodrÃguez Zapatero of Spain, who he called a "strategic ally," but criticized for not doubling development aid and forgiving debts, as Morales says he promised before Bolivia's elections last year.
"I have won and nothing has happened," Morales said.
The Bolivian energy nationalizations are to be followed by a six-month phase in which the government renegotiates energy contracts.
Although Morales said Thursday that no compensation would be paid since there was no confiscation of energy companies' assets, Bolivian officials have said that if the new contract talks fail, expropriations are possible, and in that case, restitution would be made.
__________________
Bolivia sees no need to pay for takeovers
By Carter Dougherty International Herald Tribune
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2006
VIENNA The leader of Bolivia on Thursday ruled out compensation for nationalized oil and gas resources as he began facing tough European questioning at the start of a high-profile summit meeting here on energy and trade.
President Evo Morales sent in the army on May 1 to occupy oil and gas fields owned by BG Group of Britain, Total of France, Repsol of Spain and Petrobras of Brazil. He said there was no need to pay, since the companies had already recovered their investments plus profits.
Europe is watching the case carefully. The European Union wants closer economic ties with Latin America under normal rules of law. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's commissioner for external relations, said Europe was looking for discussions with Bolivia and the affected companies.
"If there are already contracts, these have to be tackled and changed by dialogue," Ferrero-Waldner said.
The foreign minister of Austria, Ursula Plassnik, said: "The rule of law and trust are key issues not just for the Bolivian people, but also for investors."
But Morales was firm. "There is no reason to indemnify them whatsoever," he said at a news conference at the beginning of the meeting of dozens of European, Latin American and Caribbean leaders. "If we were to expropriate their technology or their assets, in that case there could be talk of indemnifying them, but that is not the case."
Morales added that there was "no reason for us to ask, no reason for us to consult, and there is no reason for us to discuss the policies of a sovereign nation."
Morales also confirmed expectations that his government planned to seize agricultural land and redistribute it to the peasantry, a prospect that has unnerved neighboring Brazil, whose Petrobras was already hit by the gas field nationalization and whose farmers hold land in Bolivia.
"We're not going to limit ourselves to oil resources," Morales said. "We're also going to finish with huge land owners, especially productive land, in our country."
Morales, an Aymara Indian, says that American-backed, free-market economic practices have failed to pull Bolivians out of poverty, and he criticized Colombia and Peru on Thursday for signing free-trade pacts with the United States.
"These countries that are now negotiating a free-trade agreement with the United States are abandoning the principles of the Andean community," the president said.
On the way to the meeting in Vienna, which was organized by Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, who holds the European Union's rotating presidency, the Latin American leaders made various side trips that highlighted their other interests in Europe.
In an apparent overture to an institution he has often criticized, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela passed through the Vatican to meet with Pope Benedict XVI and hear his concerns that Chávez might try to limit the church's influence.
President Michele Bachelet of Chile stopped in Bosnia and Herzegovina to visit with a small group of Chilean soldiers who are part of the peacekeeping mission there.
Schüssel, a conservative who is in a tight race for re-election this year, has used European Union meetings large and small to showcase his leadership in Europe, while also trying to show a populist touch.
On Thursday, he led a group of European officials that included the EU Commission president, José Manuel Barroso; Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz of Poland; and a raft of sports stars in a soccer match that benefited an Austrian charity.
The European Union is in free-trade talks with Mercosur, a grouping that includes Brazil and Argentina, and will announce the start of negotiations with Central America on Friday.
But it is more wary of the Andean nations because of Morales and Chávez's plans to leave the five-member Andean grouping of South American nations in response to existing deals with the United States.
Until the Andean countries find a common position, nothing will happen, said Ferrero-Waldner, the EU external relations commissioner.
Though the meeting includes heavyweights such as President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Vicente Fox of Mexico, Morales attracted intense attention on the summit meeting's first day as he sought to persuade Europe that the nationalizations were a reasonable and just response to centuries of exploitation - above all of indigenous people - by foreigners.
Morales spent more than an hour explaining his position. Though known for his stirring rhetoric at home, he relied on sober arguments, and occasional touches of humor that included jabs at his British interpreter, to make his case in Europe.
Still, he avoided explicitly confrontational tones. He made no mention of the United States by name, even though his criticism of American policies has been biting in the past - and he avoided blanket condemnations of foreign investors.
"What we are looking for are partners, not bosses that exploit our natural resources," Morales said.
He reserved his most pointed words for Prime Minister José Luis RodrÃguez Zapatero of Spain, who he called a "strategic ally," but criticized for not doubling development aid and forgiving debts, as Morales says he promised before Bolivia's elections last year.
"I have won and nothing has happened," Morales said.
The Bolivian energy nationalizations are to be followed by a six-month phase in which the government renegotiates energy contracts.
Although Morales said Thursday that no compensation would be paid since there was no confiscation of energy companies' assets, Bolivian officials have said that if the new contract talks fail, expropriations are possible, and in that case, restitution would be made.